On Wednesday 6^th April the construction of Mongolia’s newest hydro-electric power station began. Located at “Tavaltain Khavtsal” on the River Khovd in the Nogoonnuur soum (district) of Bayan-Ulgii Province, the most mountainous part of the country, the new power station will provide power for the west of the country. The three westernmost provinces are often plagued by blackouts and are largely dependent on Russian electricity.

The plant, which has a 92.8 megawatt generating capacity, is being financed by USD 248 million from the Turkey’s “ZTM Engineering and Consulting Co. Inc”. On 15^th March 2015, the Government agreed that “ZTM” would undertake the technical and economic feasibility study and be involved in the construction of the plant. Exactly a year ago, on   6^th April 2015, the Mongolian Government confirmed that the “Tavaltain Khavtsal” hydro-electric plant would be constructed under “build-operate-transfer” (BOT) terms as set out in the “Law on Concessions”. Yesterday, the first drilling work for the foudations began.

“ZTM” company has already undertaken a Mongolian Energy Master Plan using their own investment.